TPC Journal-Vol 9- Issue 4-FULL ISSUE

348 The Professional Counselor | Volume 9, Issue 4 Roles, Responsibilities, and Challenges of a High School Counselor High school counselors, while meeting academic, career, personal, and social student needs, also play a crucial role in ensuring their students are on track for high school graduation, assisting in college applications, and filling out financial aid applications, especially for first-generation and marginalized students who rely more heavily on school counselors to complete the process (Lapan, 2012; Martinez, 2013; McDonough, 2005). Though increasing college and career services is a current focus in K–12 education, frequently, the college and career services that school counselors wish to provide are at odds with administration and school districts’ work expectations and emphasis for school counselors (Carey, Harrington, Martin, & Hoffman, 2012; Paolini & Topdemir, 2013). Instead of being able to wholly focus on providing personal, social, and college and career services, school counselors are oftentimes saddled with administrative tasks such as entering transcripts, grade verifications, and test proctoring. This has led to an internal push in the school counseling profession to provide data to support the positive impact school counselors have on their students (Brigman & Campbell, 2003; Hurwitz & Howell, 2014). Impact of School Counselor Interventions on Postsecondary Outcomes Most studies related to high school counseling have focused specifically on how school counselor caseload size influences school counseling duty outcomes. Whether it was assisting with college applications (Bryan, Moore-Thomas, Day-Vines, & Holcomb-McCoy, 2011), spending more than half their time on college-related topics (Engberg & Gilbert, 2014), increased opportunity for individual planning (Woods & Domina, 2014), or higher rates of 4-year college enrollment (Hurwitz & Howell, 2014), smaller school counselor caseloads were demonstrated to positively influence students’ postsecondary plans. One study specifically examined first-generation and low-income students. Pham and Keenan (2011) found that the lower the first-generation student–counselor ratio, the higher the likelihood that a qualified first-generation student would enroll in a 4-year university. This finding corroborates existing findings that show first-generation and low-income students tend to rely more heavily on school-provided services, and the degree to which school counselor support can improve student access to higher education. Belasco (2013) highlighted the association between school counselor meetings with students and subsequent postsecondary enrollment; however, the study only examined the first fall after high school graduation and excluded enrollment in 2-year institutions in the analysis. The abovementioned studies support the argument that school counselors contribute to students accessing postsecondary planning and support. Specifically, findings in the studies indicate that specific contacts with school counselors contribute to students’ 4-year college postsecondary enrollment. With that said, despite the literature that supports school counseling and highlights the extent to which school counselors can positively impact students, there has been a lack of conversation regarding which specific counselor contacts may contribute most to postsecondary enrollment, as well as enrollment in both 2- and 4-year institutions (NCES, 2005). Thus, it is crucial to examine what exact contacts school counselors have with students that potentially influence student postsecondary enrollment in order to advocate for more time to do those activities. Purpose of the Study The focus of this study was to examine specific school counseling contacts and their influence on students’ postsecondary enrollment. Specifically, we wanted to know whether students’ contacts with school counselors influence students into matriculating to higher education. We hoped to fill a gap in the research by examining specific counselor contacts that support student achievement, in addition to